Exploded Pen in my Hand

Kateb Shunnar

1978. All kinds of things were happening: the Camp David Peace Treaty, the great blizzard in Boston, the Jim Jones cult mass-suicide in Guyana. Kids played the Space Invaders video game and listened to, “Three Times a Lady,” by the Commodores on their radios. Argentina won the World Cup. The New Orleans Saints recorded yet another losing season. And, in Britain, the first test tube baby was born.

Another baby was born that year too. He wasn’t as newsworthy, but he was important to his mother. Marva Hill Trinity, gave birth to a handsome baby boy she named, Kateb Shunnar. As a child Shunnar’s mother said, “Kateb was nonsocial and shy. I barely saw my son crack a smile. For a long time I assumed something was wrong with Kateb, but in time I learned that my son was very observant of everything. When Kateb turned eleven he began to open up slowly. I remember one day I went to parent teacher night and Kateb’s teacher, Elvin Edinburgh, informed me that Kateb was writing fairly good poetry for someone his age. He also said that he knew Kateb will touch the world one day.” About time Shunnar, was in the sixth grade, he had written over fifty poems and he really exploded in Mrs. Green sixth grade class. However, when Shunnar went to Jr High School he suffered from low self esteem and depression as a result of this his grades begun to fall dramatically. When Shunnar was in the eighth grade he had a 0.0 grade point average. This sudden change really bothered Shunnar’s family, because they couldn’t figure out the underlying cause. Kateb’s mother tried psychologist, family counseling, and learning specialist all of the three deemed Kateb with some type of problem. The Psychologist said he suffered with depression and self-esteem issues, because of a void in his life. Family counseling said Kateb was just trying to hurt his mother because he thought he was not getting enough attention. The learning specialist said Kateb suffered from dyslexia and he needed to enroll in classes at the local learning center to help him with his “Disability.” However, as Shunnar matured he quickly proved all of the diagnoses and assessments wrong by excelling in his academics. He motivated himself by doing martial arts and dedicating himself to religious research of all monotheist faiths and he studied world history. Shunnar’s research improved his social skills because now he had something to talk about. Shunnar’s studies also improved his storytelling and poetry. In an attempt to search for a new life and environment, Shunnar relocated to Roswell, Georgia in 1997 where he lived with his uncle. In a year he saw that he had to return back home to help his grandmother care for his grandfather who was dying due to the deadly disease called Cancer. With a strong will and determination to make a better life for himself; Shunnar attended the University of New Orleans majoring in Psychology. At the age of twenty seven Shunnar begun working on his collection of short stories which he called Sally Ann who is a fictional character that lived in Albany Georgia in the 1900’s. I asked Mr.Shunnar where did he get the idea for this story and he said, “Well one day I was sitting in my studio and I saw a image of a little girl sitting under a tree and when I opened my eyes I begun to create the life of this young girl. “Unfortunately Mr.Shunnar had to bring his story to a holt because of hurricane Katrina and the death of his new born son who passed at nine days old. Shunnar tried to rebound, but things got not as good as for Shunnar as the love of his life who was his grandmother became gravely ill due to her cancer. At that point Shunnar broke his Sally Ann story into halves and quickly tried to get it published so that his grandmother could just hold Sally Ann in her hands. Shunnar said of his grandmother, “I just knew my grandmother smile would have out shined the sun if she just could have seen my accomplishment, but I figured it was too late. In my depression I went for a walk in the midnight hours around a manmade lake in Georgia. While I was walking I saw a willow tree and as I looked at it I heard a voice in my head saying, “By the pond you shall see me standing there like a weeping willow tree; dreary and weary eyes all teary my soul cries out, but does anyone hear me?” I knew that voice was the voice of my grandmother in her pain so I quickly went inside and wrote her words down and I faxed a copy to her in Huston a few days later. She called me with joy in her heart Shunnar said. I remember her saying, “Kateb this was a blessing and it brought a smile to my weary body. She continued to say, “Kateb this is the most beautiful thing I’ve read in a long time.” Shunnar said after that conversation he never had a chance to speak to his grandmother again due to the increase of her illness. However, Shunnar trying times did not discourage him from trying to reach one of his life goals. During Shunnar publishing efforts he started to run into brick walls from every angle trying to get his voice in print. As a result of this, Shunnar decided to start the National Black Artist and Writers Association, which main purpose is to build a strong network of writers and artist in the southern states to teach the youth and community more about our culture, heritage, and history by means of plays, seminars, festivals, book fairs, poetry readings, art shows, and debates. Shunnar says, “NBWA network open to everyone who wants to make a change in our communities and what better way to do this then help one another with business and literary projects. Remember Marcus Garvey said, "EACH ONE, TEACH ONE." However, while Shunnar was publishing and building his grandmother died on March 25, 2006. Her death caused him to have a relapse of his son Jabriel death which took place October 20, 2005. Nevertheless, Shunnar never gave up on his goals even though it seemed like his world was falling. Shunnar said, “If Job could lose everything and be inflicted with bodily damage and still not give up on God; then I can too. If Noah could build an ark with old wooden planks and rusty nails with no help and still get the job done, which God asked of him; then I can too.” With that attitude Shunnar aptitude grew tremendously and doors begun to open slowly for this young writer and humanitarian.